Gamers Aren't Zombie Slayers!
by KotOR-Luvr
Summary: Vivian Connors defines herself as many things; an artist, a writer, a gamer, but a zombie slayer was most definitely not on that list, and she never expected it to be! The universe seems to have other plans as she is suddenly forced to fight alongside four heroes, to help secure a better tomorrow. She only hopes she'll be able to live long enough to see it.
1. Taken

**A/N: Well, welcome to the redux of my fic Gamer's Don't Shoot Zombies. After certain events happened, I decided to rewrite the story as it was originally intended to be written. Vivian is still the main OC (and to note as well this fic isn't a "self insert" - it merely features an OC) in this story, so don't worry! Her personality will be shifted slightly, more suited to what her personality was intended to be. Some events will change, and some elements will change, mostly to make things slightly more realistic, but still more fantasy-based as well (gobblegums, perks, etc). That all being said, I'm still hoping that this story will be just as good, if not more, than its original counterpart.**

**Chapter Genre: x**

**Chapter Rating: K+**

**Rating Content: Brief Mild Language**

* * *

She knew she shouldn't be playing video games so late in the evening, considering she had to work in the morning, but she honestly just needed the distraction lest her thoughts get to her and prevent her from sleeping altogether.

Video games was one of her ways of coping whenever things happen that triggered negative emotion. She had gotten frustrated at work earlier that day, due to some prick of a coworker deciding that _she_ was going to do all the legwork while he handled the smaller stuff. It got worse when customers decided to flood in when he decided to take his break as well. She ended up snapping at a customer who was more than rude, and she got a talk from the manager, which pissed her off since she was _clearly_ in the right!

Vivian sighed as she practically smashed the melee button, hearing the almost satisfying sound of a bowie knife colliding with the flesh of a zombie. "'Get the _fuck_ away!'" She heard from her headset.

She sighed again, although a little more calmly. Hearing Tank Dempsey's voice lines, or any of the other character's voice lines, was satisfying to her. Although the words spoken weren't the friendliest, it was calming for her to listen to her favourite character's voices. It was a form of comfort, in a sense. Most likely due to her love of the _Black Ops 3_ zombies mode.

She wasn't attempting the egg, as that was too stressful for her at this time of night, and she also didn't wish to wake anyone up in the apartment complex if she ended up yelling.

Being 25 years of age, a lot of people tended to mock her, especially her parents, for playing video games 'all the time', but they didn't understand that video games have always been a coping mechanism for her. Being able to immerse herself in a false world and briefly forget her struggles and worries, to just do something that she's truly passionate about. Being able to connect to characters, however fake they may be, was also comforting.

As she completed the last soul box (an unnecessary task, but one that gave her some good dopamine), she briefly wondered what it would be like if the characters were real. Not the actual game, as it would not exactly be pleasant, but just the characters. Takeo, Nikolai, Tank and Edward. Their general personalities can be seen in game, but what about in a real life setting? It would be interesting to see how they acted in their daily lives, and not just through a TV or computer screen.

She had read a lot of fanfiction, and written a lot as well, but each story had almost differing personalities for the characters, and she always wondered what they'd truly be like.

Vivian turned around in-game and attempted to throw a monkey bomb to try and be rid of the zombies that she was training, but she was suddenly flung far out of the maps boundaries, and she freaked out for a moment thinking she may have somehow broke her game.

She then burst into a fit of laughter upon realizing what she did. She had forgotten that Treyarch still hadn't patched the glitch where you could be kicked by Odin, and she realized she must have gotten in front of his foot just as he was taking a step forward.

But her panic rose once more when she realized she could start walking around outside the map boundaries. "Did I actually break my game?" She asked herself.

Trying her best to set aside her panic, she started exploring outside the map, and it was pretty barren once she thought about it. Obviously, since Treyarch (or any game developer) wouldn't make a massive area outside the needed map area. They most likely learned that from Tranzit, and they had to implement fog, not just because of the map size, but because of the area outside the map barriers.

She was about to quit her game to turn in for the night, until she saw something further out of the map barrier, and she got curious. Did Treyarch add a little mini egg outside the map on the off chance someone managed to get out of the map?

As she got closer to it, she noticed the figure as the shape of a teddy bear, one of Samantha's to be exact. Odd, she thought. Once she got close enough to it, she saw the prompt on the screen 'Hold X To Interact'.

Not able to resist, she held the X button on her controller, and she heard the familiar sound of Samantha's laughter as the teddy bear ascended into the sky. Then there was nothing else. She stood still in-game, extremely confused. "That's it?" She asked nobody in particular.

When she moved the analog stick, she didn't move, and only _then_ did she panic. Especially since her Xbox One S started having a red light instead of a white one. She had _never_ seen it have a 'red ring of death' before, and it made her extremely concerned!

Vivian instantly shot up, took off her headset and dashed to her console, holding down the power button in the hopes a hard reset would save it, but to no avail as she held it for far more than ten seconds, and the device refused to turn off.

She couldn't afford a new console and she didn't want to have to spend hundreds to repair it, this was _definitely_ not happening!

Thinking quick, she simply unplugged her Xbox and the tv screen went blue and her Xbox was no longer on. She sighed and turned off her tv, thinking it best to turn in for the evening anyways.

She slowly undressed as she walked to her bedroom, making a mental note to clean up the clothes after she got home from work tomorrow afternoon. She then got into black jogging pants and a tank top and crawled into her bed, letting out a massive yawn.

Never realize how tired you are until you're actually in bed, she thought to herself, her eyes closing as she drifted off to sleep.

Such innocence, the entity thought to itself. Completely unaware of them, completely unaware of her fate to come.

The entity simply plucked her from this world, from this realm, from existence, grinning evilly to itself. Perhaps with this creature, they would finally move forward, and towards the destruction it craved for them to fall victim to.


	2. Bad Impressions

**A/N: It actually took me over an hour to figure out a title for this story and that one just sounded better than the other ones I thought up of. Nope, there's no Daren and Scott in this fic, just Vee! The rest of the story will (obviously) come into place eventually. Anyways, I hope y'all enjoy!**

**Chapter Genre: -**

**Chapter Rating: M**

**Rating Content: Reference to/Implied Rape, Brief Depictions of Violence, Graphic Depictions of Gore, Coarse Language**

* * *

She suddenly felt cold and she shivered, the crisp air hitting her neck. Christ, didn't I have the heat turned up, she thought.

She also realized she really wasn't in her bed, but she felt like she was being carried. Probably the after-sensations of a dream she might have been having. Or she could still be having one. She always knew she could easily lucid-dream if she wished to, as she understood that in her dreams she had some element of control, but she had yet to actually be able to control her dreams completely.

There was also a lot of noise, lots of gunfire and perhaps car engines? No, it sounded too loud for car engines...

"She's coming to!" She heard a shout.

"Then get her into the shelter! We will be safer there than out here! _Schnell_!"

It also felt like it was raining. Did she forget to close her bedroom window? The news wasn't calling for rainy weather. Wait it was supposed to be the middle of winter, why was it raining?

The cold, rainy weather was suddenly gone, and although it was still chilly, it wasn't quite as cold as it had been outside.

Vivian slowly started opening her eyes, wanting to know where the hell she was in this dream. Whatever 'shelter' she ended up in, it seemed to be mostly composed of grey rock, maybe concrete. Her vision was still blurry and she was just merely making a wild guess. She also noticed something bright orange around the middle of the room, and the blurry light seemed to dance. Fire, most like.

She was set down on something relatively soft and she suddenly felt hands on her body, and she began to panic. "Her vital signs seem stable enou-"

Vivian's hand snapped to whoever was touching her, grabbing their wrist and nearly twisting it in her panic. Her deep brown eyes were wide with fear, and her breathing suddenly became irregular. A normal response to waking up in an unfamiliar place as well as in a state of confusion, he thought.

"Who are you?"

She spoke English, he wondered. And in France as well, although it was not unheard of, but there was no hint of an accent in her voice.

The American, of course, immediately became wary of the young woman. "We could ask you the same thing." He stated, his voice deep and threatening.

Her head whipped around to where the other voice had come from, and her worry began to increase. Did dreams always make her feel this strongly? No, she'd sometimes wake up in a panic, and she's had terrifying nightmares, but rarely were her emotions in dreams ever this potent and strong.

And the two men she had seen, they were far too familiar to deny that she didn't know them. Heck, she really _didn't_, but at the same time she knew them a lot more than she'd care to admit. The one who's wrist she still held tight in her hand, was recognizable both by his accent and by his looks. An angled face, sharp jawline, a somewhat prominent nose, slick black hair. The only thing that threw her off were the vivid green eyes. Weren't they supposed to be blue?

The other man, the one that sounded like he wanted to shoot her, was definitely a lot bigger than the man beside her. Had a lot more muscle and body mass. His hair was slicked back, most likely by hair gel and constant brushing, and his eyes were a soft blue. Dressed in a brown leather jacket and beige pants, a gun in a holster on his hip.

Oh god, she had read and written far too many fanfictions to _not_ know what was going on. Or, perhaps she just thought she knew, but didn't actually know. Maybe this was all just a dream.

But this all felt too real, too... tangible. She could feel the cold air, she could feel her wet hair from the rain, she could smell something... terrible, like decaying corpses. Worse than any smell she had encountered back home on the farm.

The bigger man suddenly approached her, and she released her grip on the other man's wrist as she tried sitting up and moving backward, away from him, but of course it was really futile and he was far too quick for her anyhow. He started tugging something off her back and she thought he was trying to rip off her clothes.

Christ, no this could not be happening!

The tugging finally stopped and she pressed her back against a wall, looking up and seeing the man had something that looked like a burlap bag. He tossed it to a man with long black hair, which was pulled into a tight bun. Muscular, carrying a long blade at his side, and wearing way too short of sleeves to even be relatively warm in this type of weather. Deep but soft brown eyes, a soft face, but not too soft. Had a few angles here and there, particularly around the jawline and cheekbones. "Search her bag, Tak."

I never had a bag, she thought. Not on her person however.

"So, doc," The bigger man said, turning back to she and the other man. "Didn't know you and your group took prisoners, or women prisoners."

"I do not recognize her at all, Dempsey." The man replied. "And we never took prisoners. Everyone had fled years ago when the war started. Do not be so dense."

"Then why is she here?" Dempsey growled.

Vivian ignored them and stared at the man who was searching through what was apparently her bag. He took out a book, which he briefly flipped through before setting it down on a desk in front of him. He then pulled out a hair brush, which he placed alongside the book.

Then he pulled out another book, which she immediately recognized as her personal journal. The dark and worn leather was easily recognizable to her.

Vivian attempted to move forward, trying to ward the man off from reading it. "Hey, that's my journal-!"

She heard the click of a gun and felt something hard pressing against the back of her head. "I don't want you moving." Dempsey said, his voice low and threatening.

Edward, who was now more annoyed by the American's caution, attempted to push the gun away from the woman's head. "Enough, she is of no threat to us. Do not waste the bullet."

"How do you know she ain't a spy?" He insisted, moving around the woman so he could face her. "Back against the wall, don't move, or I'll shoot you."

Vivian looked up at him with pleading eyes, her hands beginning to tremble with fear. This situation was starting to become far too much for her. If this was a dream why wouldn't she just wake up? Her alarm on her phone should be going off soon, right?

Edward cleared his throat, grabbing her attention as he stood. "It is best to do as he says,_ fräulein_. Just for now..."

She did as told, then, pressing her back against the wall and bringing her knees up to her chest. When she did, she noticed she was wearing different clothing than what she went to bed with. She was wearing trousers, ones with actual pockets, black boots, leather gloves and a brown leather jacket with a fur-lined collar. Well, at least it's keeping her warmer than if she wan't wearing these clothes. Vivian then looked over to the Japanese man, who seemed to have lost interest in her journal, which was a relief.

"Perhaps she is not a spy," He said, his voice gentle and smooth, almost like honey. "But rather a traveler, a... refugee."

He pulled something out of her bag, which he then set on the desk. The object in his hands looked soft, the colours bright and vibrant. He turned the object in his hand, inspecting it. It had rather... large eyes, which were just as oddly coloured. However, judging by how soft it was, it was most likely some sort of toy.

The woman's eyes widened and she tried moving again, worried what the man might do to her stuffed animal. "Hey, that's-"

"What the fuck did I just say?!" Dempsey snapped, scaring her into silence. He then looked to Takeo, who was still inspecting the toy. "If she was some refugee or trying to get away from the war, why would she be heading North instead of West? She should've left years ago, anyways, not to mention she ran straight into German forces. Don't any of you find this suspicious?"

The Japanese man shook his head. "A spy would have brought a weapon with them." He pulled a small, almost pathetic looking pocket knife from her bag, pulling the blade from its sheath. "A _proper_ weapon."

An even bigger man turned away from the window he was seemingly guarding, lowering his shotgun and looking at the smaller American. "And she is woman, Dempsey."

Jesus, his voice was a lot deeper than what I'm used to hearing, she thought. He also looked a lot more bulkier, muscular, and he seemed to be the largest man out of all four of them. His beard and mustache also looked a lot smoother than his game model, she noticed.

"Don't mean a damn thing. She's dressed for this kind of weather, so she knew where she was going, and she just _happened_ to stumble upon a German research site, in the middle of a goddamn war. She also ain't local, because she speaks perfect English." His head shot to the younger woman, who seemed to cower under his gaze. "Just how did you happen to find this excavation site?"

She shook her head, barely even able to speak. She could hardly breathe, even. She was surrounded by four men who were technically unfamiliar to her, and in this moment not very friendly either. Four men who could easily overpower her if they wished to. Four men with weapons, that could kill her. She was in an unfamiliar place, and she had so many questions buzzing in her head but she felt she couldn't ask them lest she annoy them and possibly get shot.

This was the type of emotional stress she didn't enjoy, at all. She just couldn't ever respond well to any emotional stress. But especially this kind.

She just quivered in her place, now unable to talk, just about ready to cry out of fear and frustration. Couldn't she just wake up...

Edward, now completely fed up with the marine's attitude, did his best to step in front of the soldier. "Leave her be, American. She is most likely suffering from some short term memory loss, she _did_ take a large hit to the head."

Tank, although he did not enjoy being bossed around by the German, complied begrudgingly, no longer pointing the gun at her but not holstering it either. He didn't want her to try something and then take them by surprise.

The gun no longer being pointed at her brought her some degree of comfort, but it still didn't completely ease her worries. She was still in a room with four strange men, who hadn't seen a woman in months, years, even. Dwelling on that thought alone made her fearful of what they could do to her if they had any certain _urges_, and if they wished to act on them regardless of her own wishes. And what they would do to her afterwards...

Takeo placed the items back in her bag and set it back down on the desk, seeing nothing else of interest inside it. The spirits were at ease around this woman. Wary, but at ease. His own personal thoughts, however, told him to avoid her as she could very easily be dangerous. "Fate can lead you anywhere. Although we should still be cautious, we do not need to consider her a threat in this moment."

Fueled by both anger and anxiety, Vivian crossed her arms and glared, almost making a pouting form of expression. "I'm right here..." She muttered, quietly expressing her disdain in being treated as if she were not in the room with them.

Tank gave her a look, one that resembled how a parent would look at a child who had just sassed them. "Excuse you?"

"I don't really like being talked about like I'm not here." She said, her voice louder for him to hear her properly. "I know I'm just some random girl, but... I don't even know how to shoot a gun."

All four men gave her a disbelieving look, confused as to how she even made it there. If she can't shoot a gun, how did she defend herself out in the battlefields? How did she survive the undead hordes, more importantly? She didn't have any food in her bag, appeared to be in excellent health despite the poor weather and living conditions, looked like she had taken a shower mere hours before meeting them, and aside from the mud from her collapsing, her clothes had been in pristine condition.

Takeo was the one to voice their otherwise, unspoken concerns and question. "If you do not know any means of protecting yourself, how did you survive the undead demons? Surely not through agility and evasion alone."

Vivian looked down at the floor, shrugging her shoulders whilst gently shaking her head. She knew she wouldn't be able to lie in this moment, not that she even wanted to, and she knew that answering with the truth would only anger the American further. So, silence was her option.

"If she truly does not know how to shoot gun," Nikolai stated, "Then all she is, is liability to group."

She wanted to curse, rather colorfully, at the Russian, but she held her tongue. He was right. She _was_ a liability to the four of them, since she wasn't aware of how to defend herself. So, she kept silent, and continued to stare at the floor, not wanting to meet any of their gazes.

All their heads shot up at the sound of an inhuman scream, followed by several more, along with groans, grunts and growls. Vivian looked around, suddenly feeling completely unsafe and very unsure of herself.

Tank checked his revolver and made sure it was fully loaded, and everyone else did the same with their own weapons. The Canadian woman started to become nervous, knowing full well what was going to happen next.

The zombies were coming.

"Who's going to be babysitting her?" Tank growled, gesturing his gun to her. "Someone needs to train her as we go."

Edward was nearly ready to volunteer, knowing none of the others trusted her, but he bit his tongue and his cheek. They didn't trust him just as much, if not more, as they didn't trust her. He would rather not have suspicions raised about the both of them, and possibly have the both of them killed.

Tank eyed everyone up, almost irritated that none of them were volunteering. He didn't want to end up stuck with her, because it was bad enough that she didn't know how to fucking fight, but it's worse that she could be a spy or agent. She was attractive, which made her all the more dangerous. He knew women. And he knew that if women were attractive in some aspect, and if they knew that they were, they would use that to their own advantage to seduce someone else they felt was attractive, or just sexually appealing. Or, they would seduce men in the hopes to pull secrets from them about their operations. He had that happen to him, nearly worked on him too. Only catch was, she forgot that he didn't mention to her that he was a Marine. That was what gave her away. And now, he was often wary of women in the war setting.

The only thing that really threw him off about her, was her hair... how did she tip it in blue colouring?

"I shall keep watch over her," Takeo suddenly offered, "Until the demons dissipate."

He knew that the woman wasn't trusted by Tank. Nikolai did not trust her either, despite never voicing it. He didn't fail to notice the look in his eyes whenever they fell upon her. He is almost like a tiger, pacing inside a cage. He would be waiting for the right moment to strike, and he would rather not have an innocent person, an innocent woman, killed or abandoned just because of the Russian feeling overly suspicious of her, or that she was not worth protecting. The spirits had urged him to offer to keep an eye on the woman, feeling no ill will from her. There was nothing evil within her heart or spirit, despite that both were severely damaged, and they felt she may be useful. But, other than that, they had then remained silent on the entire subject.

The woman seemed to be even more reluctant and fearful than before, pressing herself tighter against the stone wall, tears welling in her eyes. For a few moments, he felt pity for her. It was understandable why she was so afraid, be it of them or the undead creatures threatening to gather into the only safe space they had in this war zone.

Not wishing to startle her, he knelt down, grabbing her attention almost immediately. "We are not here to harm you, as long as you are not here to harm us." He told her, his voice gentle and almost soothing. "I will not abandon you to the demons, nor will I attempt to take your life in cold blood. I swear this to you."

This did not calm her, not by a long shot, he saw it in the brazen look in her eyes. But, regardless of her state of mind, she seemed to trust him more than she had, and she had nodded her head in compliance. He offered his hand, which she took hesitantly, and he rose onto his feet, aiding her up as well. The woman eyed up her bag, her hands wringing together. "Can I... have my bag back?" She asked, her voice almost small and unsure, much like a nervous child's.

Tank tossed her a pistol and her knife, which she barely caught. "You don't got anything of use in it," he growled, "we have to get moving!"

The Canadian pocketed her knife, but eyed the gun in her hands warily, feeling very unsafe with it. Aside from a very weak, not to mention inaccurate, rifle used to shoot at grackles and starlings, and the occasional pesky squirrel, she's never had to shoot a gun before (despite that she wanted to learn how to hunt with her older brother).

This was not going to go well, for her.

She was barely given time to collect herself before she was ushered out of the shelter, and into the hellish war zone. The muddy trenches of France.

The first thing she had immediately noticed was the _smell_. A quick look around had shown several bodies laying on the ground, be it randomly or in piles, that of the ones that once were living, now waterlogged and littered with crevices filled with wriggling larvae and feasting rats, as well as the corpses of the damned, most of which had been decayed enough, but now had an extremely unhealthy infestation of mature larvae and several rats chewing off the limbs and burrowing holes into the bodies themselves. The rotting stench of death and decay would permanently linger in her nostrils, as well as the smell of burning bodies, most likely from fallen planes which were battling in the skies above. Blood stained the muddy earth beneath them, seeping into the soil from the rain that fell, or pooling into large crimson puddles, unable to sink into the earth, leaving a permanent metallic stench in the air.

Having grown up on a farm, she had been used to the _occasional_ smell of decaying bodies (mostly from dead animals thrown into the manure pile to prevent coyotes from coming onto the farm), and she was used to the smell of blood from when she helped the family butcher some chickens for meat. This, however, was extreme compared to what she was used to smelling back home on the family farm.

Combining the stench with the horrific sights seen around her, it caused her stomach to churn in disgust and horror, feeling almost sick, as if she had consumed under cooked food. She felt bile rising in her throat, causing her to double over and release the contents of her stomach onto the muddy, bloodsoaked earth, some dripping from her nose, the acid from her stomach making the back of her throat sting. Between seeing the horrific battlefield and her own body reacting in such a manner, and knowing that she would have more stress on her shoulders mere moments from now, Vivian felt more than upset with how overwhelming her circumstances were. Tears fell from her eyes, both from the stinging in her nostrils and throat from the vomit, as well as her emotional distress, and despite knowing there were four sets of eyes on her, she couldn't help but cry.

Edward felt the most for the young woman, not enjoying the sight of seeing anyone in such a degree of distress. He approached her, pulling a handkerchief from one of the pouches on his belt, handing it to her wordlessly.

She had hesitated at first, but she had then removed her now dirty glove from her hand, taking the piece of cloth and wiping the remnants of bile from her mouth and under her nose. She then sniffled, straightening her posture. "Thank you..." She said quietly, barely able to meet his eyes out of shame and embarrassment.

The German nodded, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We need to get moving, there is still much that needs to be done."

Takeo kept himself close to the young woman, not wishing for her to become lost once the others started splitting up. "Come, follow me." He told her.

She hesitantly followed the Samurai through the trenches, and she didn't fail to notice how he kept his sword unsheathed, ready to strike at anything that came to them. She knew it wouldn't be much, but she kept her own pocket knife out, just in case something decided to grab her. She didn't want her final moments to be caused by a walking corpse.

Well... this was just a dream, right?

Her stomach deciding to betray her didn't exactly _feel_ like much of a dream. Vivian knew she could feel things whenever she remembered what she dreamed about, but they were never vivid or extreme. She truly felt like she did puke, and it still felt like her stomach wanted to annoy her further. She could still taste the acidic tang in the back of her throat, could smell it even (it was almost more welcome than the rotting stench that had caused her to vomit in the first place). But, she did her best to not focus on it since it made her want to puke again, which was the last thing she needed.

Takeo lead her past the mound, which she couldn't help but marvel at. The 115 glowed far brighter than it did seeing it through her tv screen, and she could see the almost liquid-looking material moving, almost as if there was a thin pane of glass and water was moving underneath it. It almost looked fragile. She reached out to touch the 115 as they passed by some, her hand recoiling immediately once she felt a sharp, cold sting in her fingers. It almost felt like her hand had touched water below the freezing point!

She suddenly felt herself falling, and she prepared to hit the muddy earth, but instead fell into a pair of strong arms. She looked up to see the rather neutral face of the Samurai. "There _is_ mud, watch where you step." He gently chided her.

"Sorry..." She gave a quiet apology, pulling her foot out from the deep mud. She had been so enamored by the 115 that she failed to remember, and pay attention to, the footstep from the robot, and she had nearly tripped because of the mud as well as the suddenly elevated ground.

He took her across the footstep, and then across the pathway in which the tank would take, and then lead her to the stairway leading to the wind tunnel. As they walked down the stairs, she could feel the warmth coming from the cavern it lead into, could smell the warm damp air, a welcome change from the miserable stench outside in the excavation site.

Takeo gestured to the workbench that was in the tunnel, and she looked at him, almost confused. "What...?"

"Since you cannot shoot a gun, and since I do not entirely trust the integrity of that blade you're holding, perhaps you can build instead."

His explanation did not help her much either and she continued to stare at him with a worried and anxious expression. "I'm... sorry?"

He gestured for her to move forward and she did, wringing her hands together nervously. "I don't know how I feel about... building something. I don't want to mess anything up."

The samurai grabbed items from underneath the bench, placing them on top of it, along with several tools, and he grabbed blueprints and pinned them onto the board against the wall. "There are instructions. They are written in my language, but I can-"

"They're in English..."

"Pardon?"

She scanned her eyes over the blueprints and she looked at the various parts on the workbench, the pieces clicking together in her mind. "The instructions are written in English."

Takeo, now more than confused, looked at the blueprints once more to make certain he hadn't gone completely mad. Sure enough, he recognized the marks of Japanese writing on the paper. And, to ensure she was not merely toying with him, he pointed to a paragraph. "What does this say, then?"

She read the paragraph and repeated to him, "'_Link joints, hold in place and screw in bolts to prevent folding_'."

He stared at the paper for a moment, before removing his hand from it. "I see."

The Canadian gave the man a concerned look, wondering if he thought she was lying to him. "Did I say something wrong?" She asked quietly, wringing her hands together once more.

"No. This has happened before. I am deducting that the papers, however odd it may seem, are cursed or perhaps imbued with some sort of magic. The German has claimed the blueprints are written in his language, as did the Russian." He heard rocks shifting from their place deep within the tunnel and he stood at attention, his sword pointing towards where the danger threatened to appear from. "Build quickly, we do not have much time to spare!"

Vivian, now certain as to what her task was, quickly reviewed the instructions before setting to work. She absolutely _loved_ tinkering with things, and building things, just as long as she knew how to do it. It would take her a short bit to remember which tools were used for what as she hadn't needed to use them for several years, but she was hoping her memory wouldn't fail her.

Especially in a moment such as this.

/ / /

Tank scanned the walls warily as the German searched for... whatever the hell he was looking for. A record. A yellow one.

Dammit, he didn't understand what he was up to, but it made him very uneasy and very much suspicious of Edward. Just what exactly was he scheming? He wouldn't be stupid enough to try and get them all killed.

Edward appeared from the tunnel that was near the Generator, yellow record in hand. "Here we are! This is useful for opening the gateway from the wind tunnel into the-"

He paused suddenly as he realized the stupid American wasn't even listening to him. Lost in thought once again, it seemed. For such a paranoid man, he sure seemed to get himself into a position in which he could very easily get killed. Not that he would try to do so, anyways. He needed all three of them. To help him secure the future he desperately wished for.

He cleared his throat which caught the man's attention. "I got the piece we need to open the wind tunnel."

The screams of the damned reached his ears and he grabbed his pistol from his holster, ready to fend them off. Just as he was ready to run for the wind tunnel, he was grabbed by his shoulder and with a shocked cry, he turned around and shot at the diseased corpse that had attempted to bite him, the bullets shooting straight through the cranium, bits of bone, blood and brain splattering from the exit wound. The zombie fell to the ground with a groan, the venomous yellow eyes fading to a dead white.

"We need to move." He stated, and Tank nodded in agreement.

"Get ready, just in case she jumped him."

"Do you truly have such little faith in a stranger?"

"And you have so much of it?"

The accusing tone was not missed and Edward kept his mouth shut, not gracing the Marine with a response, as he knew nothing would satisfy him unless he got the answer he _wanted_.

The American is more testy than he normally is, he thought to himself.

/ / /

Vivian did her best not to flinch as she heard the gun going off in the distance and as she heard yet another body hit the floor, the disgusting smell of blood filling her nostrils once more. She felt herself gag but she swallowed back the bile that threatened to force itself from her stomach, not wanting to vomit on the shield she was building.

She didn't entirely understand how all five of them would end up being able to have a shield, since only one was being built and since there only seemed to be pieces to make the one. This wasn't a game (although she still wondered if it was a dream), and so reality was actually a thing with this universe. She wondered how _anything_ would work in this universe.

Just as she was tightening the last few bolts, she felt something grab at her shoulder and, instinctively, she grabbed her knife and whipped around, ready to stab at whoever or whatever her attacker was.

And her wrist was grabbed, immediately stopping her from connecting the blade with flesh. Her deep brown eyes trailed upward and were met with a pair of stormy blue eyes, and her blood froze solid, fear gripping at her heart.

It was Nikolai, looking unfazed by her attack, but in his eyes she could see controlled rage. And menace.

Her fingers went slack around the hilt of her knife and it fell to the stony floor, catching the attention of the Samurai, who looked on in confusion as well as concern. Who threw the first punch, or rather, who intimidated who first?

Vivian shook her head, beginning to hyperventilate from sheer panic and fear. "I'm sorry," she gasped, her hands beginning to shake. "I-I'm sorry, I thought... I thought you were, just-"

"Let go of her." Takeo hissed, to which the Russian looked at him with disbelief. Upon seeing the samurai's sword tilting towards him threateningly, he released the woman's wrist, leaving her to cower in the corner of the room next to the workbench, which Nikolai tossed a single small, triple bladed propeller onto next to the completed shield.

Vivian brought her knees up to her chest and hid her face in her arms, annoyed and angry with herself not just for reacting the way she did when she was grabbed, and for reacting to what happened the way she was now. She thought it was a zombie grabbing her, and she now thought the man was ready to put a bullet in her skull to save themselves whatever trouble he thought she'd bring to them. Or give to them.

"You put a lot of trust into stranger who could, as demonstrated, kill us."

"You startled her, and she reacted, _Aho_! Do not attempt to place blame on rightful and reasonable actions!"

And now they were arguing because of what she did. She just needs to calm the fuck down!

She heard some footsteps, ones that weren't dragging along the ground, and she assumed they weren't zombies. Her assumptions were proven correct once she heard another voice in the mix. "What the hell is going on?!"

She cowered more as she realized it was the American who spoke, sounding rather livid. At who? That was the real question.

She risked a look up to see that all four men were now in the tunnel, and Edward was holding a yellow disc, a record, presumably to open up the portal in the wind tunnel they were in. Which, of course, wasn't going to happen anytime soon if they kept bickering.

Vivian sniffled and attempted to dry her tears, gaining the courage to stand back up. "I'm done the shield..." She said, her voice somewhat hoarse but still firm.

When she wasn't heard, she cleared her throat and took a breath, calming herself further. "The shield is done being built!"

They all stopped with their argument and looked at the Canadian, who stood still and stayed calm despite the many pairs of eyes now on her. Edward approached the shield, giving it a once over. "You followed the instructions to the letter!" He said, grasping at the various parts of the shield and wiggling them to check the integrity. "Well done."

The German removed the shield from the table, and Vivian watched in fascination as the shield seemed to rebuild itself in a sense, slowly reappearing back on the table, and Takeo grabbed the next one, then Nikolai, then Tank. They all watched her expectantly as she watched once again in fascination as the shield seemed to just materialize out of nothing on top of the workbench. "Woah..."

"Sometime today!" Tank snapped at her, making her grab the shield quickly. Upon taking it from the workbench, she was completely unprepared for the weight of it and it nearly dropped her to the ground with it, and she made a surprised sound. "Um..." She tried lifting it and she heard and felt her knee and elbow joints crack as she did. Jesus fuck, how was she supposed to lift this thing let alone carry it on her back?!

She flinched and nearly screamed as she heard a gunshot go off and then the sound of another body dropping to the floor, and she realized the zombies had started to group up at the exit to the tunnel.

Jesus, no... no they couldn't be trapped!

"This way," Edward spoke swiftly, moving deeper into the tunnel. "We need to open the portal to the Crazy Place, we will find a brief moment of refuge while we retrieve the wind crystal!"

Vivian, leaving the shield behind (knowing she would not be able to carry it) and taking the pistol from the workbench, and grabbing her pocket knife that she dropped, and following Edward closely, not wishing to be at the back and being forced to shoot any zombies that started coming after them.

More gunshots, more bodies, more rotting stench in her nostrils and she audibly gagged, bile rising in her throat again. Edward, feeling sympathy once more, spoke as reassuringly as he could to the woman as he placed the record on the gramophone. "You will eventually get used to it, Miss.. ah, I'm afraid I do not know your name."

The stones slowly fell into place, the song slow but catchy at the same time. She almost became entranced with how the stones moved, securing themselves into place. It was fascinating how music was able to create something so otherworldly, so... powerful.

As the portal sprang to life, humming gently, the golden yellow swirling hypnotically, she turned to the German, the question now settling in her mind.

"Vivian... Vivian Connors."

* * *

**Translation - Japanese: _Aho_ \- Idiot, or the closest word to it**


	3. A Crazy Place

**A/N: I needed to end the chapter there because I was beginning to run out of the idea as to where to go with it and since my creative juices are flowing once more, I didn't wanna ruin the flow. But anyways, there isn't much else to really explain so I hope y'all enjoy!**

**I also PROMISE there will be more action and such in the next chapter! The first few chapters in any of my fics normally require introductions and problems/conflicts of some kind, like, it's just writing. Character development!**

**Chapter Genre: x**

**Chapter Rating: M**

**Rating Content: Extreme Coarse Language, Depictions of Violence, Graphic Depictions of Gore, Scenes of Blood**

* * *

They all stepped through the portal, and Vivian felt like she was surrounded by water, but she could breathe, and she didn't feel wet. It was like a blanket covering her body, a moderately cool one, but it didn't make her shiver or even feel like there was a chill.

Then she was standing inside a massive cave, and it almost looked as if the rocks were caving in, until she saw other rocks rising upward. The rocks were spotted with bits of the Element 115, and the walls were lined with intricate carvings and lines. Upon looking up, she could see the crevices in which the rocks would drop from and rise into, the stones covering the ceiling of the massive cavern appearing hexagonal in shape. Well, so did some of the stones and rocks lining the walls. She could see where the other elemental tunnels lead to, seeing ice, fire and lightning, each giving off light of their own. The air was almost stale, but at the same time, she could feel a slight breeze where she was standing, giving a small scent of fresh air.

She started walking around the small area, fascinated by the sights before her. Despite that she had been horrified and afraid mere moments before this, she felt very calm in this cavern, almost peaceful. There was a certain aura about the place that left her feeling safe.

Her eyes fell upon the wind pedestal and she approached it out of sheer fascination, the colour and the texture and design intriguing her. As she approached it, she saw the wind crystal rise from its hiding place, glimmering and shining in the light. Her steps slowed, now approaching the crystal with a revered respect. To think that this crystal once was held within one of the most powerful weapons in the world!

Once she was within reach, Vivian placed her hand on the crystal formation that was underneath the floating crystal, her almost delicate looking fingers running over the mineral, fascinated over how smooth it was, without any rough edges or bumps. It also felt cool to the touch, but it didn't make her shiver or make her hand sting like the 115 had.

It was just amazing how the ancient people that created this cave had made everything look so beautiful, despite how lethal they could be.

Edward appeared through the portal first, watching as the woman examined the wind crystal. There was no greed in her eyes, which was surprising. Shortly afterward, t he other three men started coming through the portal, having been taking care of more undead before stepping through. They looked onward to see Vivian looking intensely at the crystal in the middle of some pedestal. At first, they thought she was intent on stealing the thing, but Edward of course knew better. The crystal would not have much value even if she were wishing to steal it.

Tank was about ready to jump her, but he held the American back. "She is no thief, nor does she wish to sabotage us. Just observe, Dempsey."

The Marine scowled but did as the German asked, watching the younger woman as she continued to move around the pedestal, seeming unconcerned with the falling and rising rocks behind her. The other two soldiers watched as well, curiosity written on their features.

The woman had an almost childlike fascination with the object in front of her, as well as what it was resting on. Or was it _in_? It was hard to tell, since the crystal was floating, or hovering really, within the pedestal. Seeing how intrigued and curious she was brought them a sense of peace. The last time they saw something so, well, normal and natural, was years ago. They have been so focused on killing the undead and surviving, that they never truly stopped to appreciate anything that had any relative beauty.

Vivian reached out for the crystal, slowly, almost cautiously, as if taking it would result in some unfortunate happening. Like Indiana Jones. Her fingers wrapped around the crystal, and she pulled it towards her, not being met with any resistance whatsoever. It didn't even feel _heavy_, there was no weight to it whatsoever. She could feel it, feel the cool texture, but it was like holding air. Nothing.

Wind.

Her eyes danced over the smooth, asymmetrical crystal, noticing how the golden yellow colour seemed to dance in swirls, almost like there was wind moving inside of it, ready to escape, to blast forth its element.

"Woah..."

"Yes, it is fascinating, is it not?"

Vivian jumped and nearly screamed as Edward spoke next to her, her hand clutching tightly to the crystal. He seemed unfazed. "The ancients carved that very crystal, along with the other ones within this cavern. This very cavern, they also built, as well as the one inside the mound. All by hand. No tools such as what we have within this day and age." He gently took the crystal from her hands, examining it as well before putting it inside one of the pouches on his belt.

She looked around, fascinated once more. "Wow." Was all she could muster, still amazed with everything she saw. So hard to comprehend how they made things so symmetrical and almost perfect within this cavern.

Her eyes traveled along the walls and they fell onto a pair of hands appearing from behind a rock formation, and up came a zombie, donned in ancient chain armour, wearing a metal helmet, its eyes glowing white instead of yellow, and her heart was gripped with fear once more.

"Um..." She pointed to the zombie, which let out a hungry, enraged cry, charging straight at them.

"We got what we needed," Edward informed them. "We need to go!"

He placed a gentle, but urgent, hand on her back, ushering her towards the portal, and she was pushed through it, the sounds of guns going off behind her immediately fading away as they went through. Once again, she was covered in that blanket, not suffocating her, but seeming to comfort her, before they appeared back in the wind tunnel, and she gagged as the air was rank with the undead, their bodies littering the floor.

Edward appeared behind her shortly after, and then Takeo, Nikolai, and Tank. Edward removed the record from the gramophone and the stones immediately fell, the portal destroyed. Some rocks fell from the sides of the walls and hands of the undead appeared from the walls, pushing their way through and dropping to the floor.

Vivian jumped as shots were fired at it and she was once again ushered from the area, which was already crowded enough. up the path, and just starting to go up the stairs.

That's when she noticed a giant grey slab of metal coming down.

"Back up!" She shouted, pushing herself backward and forcefully into whoever had been standing behind her, causing them both to fall to the moist, stony earth beneath them.

The room shook as the giant robot stepped down, the bottom of its foot glowing brightly, nearly blinding them. She winced and growled, remembering how she met her demise more than once after leaving the wind tunnel whenever she played the game. "Thanks, Odin." She muttered, picking herself up and dusting herself off.

Tank, the one who was behind her, eyed her suspiciously, the grip on his pistol tightening. "How the hell do you know the damn thing's name?"

She froze in place, suddenly feeling unsure of herself. Shit, she didn't mean to say that out loud! Shit, fuck, it was bad enough she nearly stabbed Nikolai, but now she was spewing things out that she shouldn't even know about in the first place!

Edward quickly came to her rescue. "I was speaking to her about them, before you came through the portal. Do not be so quick to assume."

"I didn't assume anything, you Kraut!" Tank growled, somehow enraged further when the German gave him no response.

Odin moved his foot, which allowed them to move out from the wind tunnel, which zombies were crawling or also walking out of, and towards them. Tank suddenly grabbed her hand, checking the pistol in it to make sure the safety was off. "Time to make yourself useful." He growled, making her feel angry but also afraid at the same time. "Since you seem to know what to do, you're going with Nikolai to try and find these staff pieces the Doc has been talking about."

Edward visibly tensed, noticing the almost hostile tone in the American's voice, and not enjoying the idea of her being left alone with the Russian. "Why don't you-"

"Nobody asked you, Richtofen!"

The German kept his mouth shut after that statement, once again not gracing the American with another response.

Nikolai stepped forward, shotgun in hand, axe holstered at his side. "Come with me." He said, offering no words of comfort or reassurance. She swallowed but nodded, grip tightening on the gun in her hand. She knew he wouldn't care if she froze, or suddenly broke down.

She already fucking hated this.

Nikolai started walking through the muddy tank path, and she followed, visibly struggling to walk through the deep, thick mud, which was becoming only somewhat looser with the rain.

Once they were out of earshot, Takeo gave the Marine an angry look and snapped at him. "Is your hatred for a stranger so great that you would send them into a wolves' den?!"

"The fuck are you meaning, Tak?"

Edward gave an angry look of his own. "You sent her with a man who already visibly hates her, who knows what he may do to her if he feels she is not worth his own time!"

Tank eyed the German, clenching his teeth as he realized the man was right. From what he gathered when they were arguing, the woman had pulled a knife on Nikolai, but apparently because he had scared her after grabbing her. But, it could still be seen as an act of violence rather than defense.

"He knows better." He said to them, said to himself. "He's a jackass sometimes, but even he knows when he needs to calm the fuck down."

The two other soldiers gave him a disbelieving look, but he started walking towards the church, ignoring both their faces and doing his best to ignore his own guilt. He knew it would be worse if the Russian tried killing her. Or worse, if he actually succeeded in doing so.

Shit, why did he always have to be a dumbass?!

/ / /

Vivian did her best to keep up with the larger man, who was visibly stronger than her since he seemed to be powering through the mud. She had learned quickly not to try using his footsteps, as all that did was allow mud to form around her boots, which acted much like a suction cup, almost keeping her feet right in place.

It was easier making her own path instead of trying to follow behind him.

He dropped down into the trenches by Generator 2, and he didn't bother waiting for her. She tried, once again, to keep up, but only succeeded in falling over the ledge of the path and falling into the trench, the wind being knocked clean from her lungs.

Only then did the Russian look back, sighing slightly in annoyance as she picked herself up. For a woman, she wasn't too graceful. He always thought they had better balance.

Vivian wiped herself off and then looked around for her pistol, having dropped it when she fell into the trench. Nikolai was quick to hand it to her, having picked it up for her before it got too wet or muddy that it wouldn't be able to function.

"We must get Generator started." He informed her, walking into the bunker next to the generator, to which she followed close behind him. "You go to roof of caved in bunker, and wait for giant robot. If foot is glowing, wait here and shoot it." He gestured to the pistol in her hand. "If not, then move. Unless you wish to get crushed."

The screams of the damned reached their ears and he was suddenly on high alert, as was she. Not only was Thor on his way, but now there was going to be undead everywhere and she didn't wish to end up being too distracted and get squished by a giant metal robot. That was the _last_ thing that she wanted to die from.

The Russian quickly moved to the generator, activating the conversion sequence, and multiple zombies dressed in armour started attacking him. The sound of a shotgun was jarring, not only making her ears ring, but putting her into some distress since she could hardly hear anything else since Thor was rapidly approaching, a lot faster than what he did in game. He was probably slower in game so people had time to look for the light and get to the robot in time, but this once again, was reality.

Over the sounds of the approaching robot, the generator powering up, and Nikolai's shotgun, she was hardly able to hear a zombie approaching her, reaching out with its' decaying fingers, opening its jaw wide and roaring loudly.

Nikolai, having completed the Generator, looked atop the bunker to check on the woman's progress, only to see her struggling with a zombie which was almost pushing her to the ground.

Not trusting his shotgun to not hit the woman, he took his axe and threw it towards the zombie with a frustrated cry, the blade of the axe nearly cutting straight through the creature's skull.

Vivian looked down and then looked over to Nikolai, who suddenly looked concerned. "_The robot_!" He shouted.

Her attention was then drawn to Thor, who raised his left foot up, ready to step on whatever was in his path. She took aim, hoping to god that her shaking hands wouldn't cause her to miss.

She pulled the trigger, and all she heard was a _click_. She pulled again, and again and again, nothing but clicking. Vivian panicked immediately, realizing the gun was either somehow jammed, or empty.

Thor's foot came barreling down, and, out of pure fear-fueled adrenaline, she grabbed Nikolai's axe and swung it upward.

Thor's foot met the earth.

/ / /

It was warm. And quiet, almost. There was a slight stench of decaying bodies, but it wasn't miserably strong.

Vivian cautiously and slowly uncurled herself, her breathing hoarse and shallow, eyes brazenly looking about her surroundings.

She was inside the robots' head, and the crew inside it... was dead. Well, then again, what the fuck else was she expecting?

She found the grip of the wind staff laying on the computer panels in front of her, and it seemed to hum with energy. She stood up and dusted herself off, picking up her gun and holstering it, as well as Nikolai's axe. She briefly thanked God for that save, because goddamn she fucking needed it!

Upon approaching the staff piece, the humming seemed to get louder, until she picked it up. It was still glowing with a lifelike energy, but it was now dead silent. Perhaps it was just calling out, in a way and as crazy as it sounded.

She looked around inside the robot, not seeing too much of anything that was interesting. Just a lot of machinery and steam from pipes, and buttons which she truly had to resist trying out, as she knew she may end up fucking something up otherwise.

Just doing as she did whenever she played the game, Vivian turned and went into one of the evacuation chambers, preparing herself for the worst experience of her life.

The sirens blared, and she was shot from the head of the robot.

It felt like a rollercoaster at first, really, the usual heart lurching into your throat feeling. But then the not so rollercoaster part, was the sheer terror she felt upon plummeting to the earth, and she could not hold back the shrill cry that escaped her, clawing at the air for some sort of purchase, but none came. Not that it would have been good if it did anyways, since her shoulder would have been pulled clean from the socket.

It would have been far worse compared to landing on the muddy, bloodsoaked earth. Next to a soldier's waterlogged corpse, purple boils rising from under the veiny flesh. She was quick to scurry away from the body, thinking it was a zombie coming up from the earth, but upon staring it was just a simple corpse. An actually dead one.

Nikolai approached her, having been waiting for her to come back, and he offered her his hand. "You are alive and well!" He stated, not out of shock. Or anything, really. But reassurance, perhaps.

"Barely..." She muttered, shaking off the mud and grime from her clothes. She handed Nikolai his axe, nodding her thanks. "This old thing saved my ass..."

"_Da_, I saw."

"My pistol didn't work." She told him, looking at her Mauser. "I don't know if I did something wrong or-"

Nikolai took it from her hands and inspected it. It was not jammed, far from it. It was fully functioning. However, upon checking the magazine, there were no bullets in it. "Pistol was empty."

The woman froze, quite literally, her body not even seeming to move despite the position it was holding. He could see her eyes go still as well. What was she doing? Maybe thinking, but nobody simply froze like that when thinking. Not even the Doctor, and that said something, as that man could be pretty odd at times.

Without saying a word, she took the pistol from his hand and she grabbed the wind staff piece, stomping off down the caved in roof, out past the generator, and into the building that would take her to Generator 3, or No Man's Land.

He followed behind her, surprised by her sudden swiftness and ability to navigate the trenches. Suspicious, but surprising. Adrenaline and, if he was not reading her expression and body language incorrectly, anger can lead to things one was not often capable of doing before.

/ / /

They had already collected the head piece from Odin and were currently fighting off a small horde of zombies whilst waiting for Freya to come towards her usual path at the church. The numbers of the undead were waning, for sure, but that didn't mean they were leaving or going to leave. They'd sometimes have lulls before a much larger horde would appear.

They saw the woman walking towards them, with purpose, and Nikolai trailing close behind her. As they destroyed the last of the walking corpses, they addressed the two approaching them.

"Ah, _gut_, you retrieved the wind staff piece!" Edward stated, attempting to rid Vivian of whatever foul mood she had gotten into.

She ignored him and charged straight for the Marine, who stepped back warily, unsure as to what she was doing. She threw the staff piece down at Edward's feet and then, gripping the barrel of her Mauser tightly, whipped the pistol straight towards Tank with a low growl, hitting him directly in the face, rather unintentionally however.

He cried out, more out of shock rather than pain, and he sniffed as he felt something running from his nose. It wasn't cold enough that he could be getting a runny nose, was it? Upon wiping under it, he noted the dark stain of blood on his glove, and his head whipped around to the smaller woman, a fire burning behind his own eyes as he gave her a deathly glare. "What in the actual fuck is your-"

"_You fucking gave me an empty gun_, _you cunt_!" She roared, the venom and rage burning behind her eyes. "_I barely fucking survived getting fucking crushed by a giant robot_, _and if it wasn't for Nikolai's axe_,_ I would've fucking died_!"

The man's eyes widened, as did everyone else's. They had only seen her be three things; nervous, shy and afraid. But they never would have thought they'd see such a seemingly delicate or fragile person in such a fit of unholy rage. Not to mention she was a young woman that was cursing like a sailor. There was a long silence, aside from the war being fought above them, as well as Vivian's own laboured breathing, both from her yelling as well as her speedy power walk to no man's land.

Tank, remembering his now bloodied nose as he felt the blood dripping down to his lips, wiped at it again and sniffed. "Your gun was empty?" Was all he could muster.

She approached him until she was standing directly in front of him, uncaring of their slight height difference but obvious difference in strength and size. She stared him dead in the eyes, her voice low and threatening. "I get that you don't trust me. I _really_ fucking do. But you just hit a new fucking low, giving me an empty gun in the hopes I'd die."

"_What_?"

"You heard me." She stated. "I don't care what you think about me, I don't even care what you could do to me, but one thing I'm not going to fucking allow you to do, is push me around and intimidate or harass me, and expect me to fucking listen to you. Even people without power have their fucking limits, and I refuse to be treated this way!"

He stood straighter then, not caring for the blood still trailing from his nose. "And I'll fucking tell you this, I ain't responsible for your gun! I didn't fucking know it was empty, but I will admit I was a dumbass for not checking in the first place. _Happy_?!"

"You tried getting me killed!"

"As I just said, woman, it wasn't me! I didn't know so don't you try crying murder and pointing your damn finger at me!"

"Oh, _sure_, says the one who threatened to fucking shoot me if I so much as moved!"

Takeo, having had enough of their almost childish bickering, pushed himself between the two of them, pushing them apart as best as he could. "That is _enough_!" He scolded, his voice level but firm. "We need to work together if we are to survive, and we cannot risk battling one another when we are battling another more greater and serious threat."

Both aggressive parties glared pure daggers at one another, neither wishing to back down and admit defeat or give a cry of surrender. However, the cries of the damned returning forced them to back down, to give a silent truce. Vivian's eyes flickered to the ground, almost in shame and fear, and Tank backed away from her as well as away from the grip the samurai had on his shoulder.

"You will be staying with the German-"

"Tak, you can't be fucking serious!"

He gave the man as neutral of an expression as possible. "I am."

Vivian wrung her hands together, not liking how aggressive she had gotten, or liking how displeased the Marine seemed to be with the idea of her being partnered with Edward. It was understandable, but she felt a lot more safe with Takeo compared to Tank or Nikolai, or even Edward, since neither of them were trusted. But, it looked like the warrior intended to have a word with the Marine, which made her more uneasy since it was because of the problem that she made a big deal about.

Edward, becoming increasingly concerned with the approaching undead, cleared his throat to grab their attention. "We must settle these disputes later, as we need to focus on gathering the remaining crystals, and the pieces to the other staffs."

Takeo agreed silently, ushering Tank towards the lightning tunnel, having found the purple record around the wind tunnel. Nikolai took off towards the bunkers once more, noticing that it was snowing, and there were a few risen bone and dirt piles back in the trenches.

Vivian stood awkwardly, patting the pocket that had her knife. Edward handed her his own Mauser, since he had an MP-40 submachine gun to fight against the hordes. "Come with me, we need to head to the church and open the gateway in the ice tunnel, and activate the generator there."

She swallowed audibly, following the Doctor hesitantly. Activating a generator meant zombies, which meant she would actually have to shoot a gun. Or cut open a zombie. Just the mere thought of doing either things caused bile to rise in her throat, which she forced back down. Maybe there wouldn't be too many zombies to handle, she thought.

Gunshots went off and she physically flinched, instinctively plugging her ears to guard herself against the jarring and distressing sounds.

Yeah right, she scoffed at herself. Once pigs fly.


	4. Pawn

**A/N: I'm glad that there are people who are enjoying the story! Of course it won't really be like my last one, and I know people are more for the self inserts and such rather than OC's, but I promise you, that this story will (hopefully be) better than my last one!**

**Chapter Genre: Action, Angst**

**Chapter Rating: T**

**Rating Content: Scenes of Blood, Scenes of Gore, Brief Scenes of Violence, Mild Language**

* * *

Takeo Gave the marine a deadpan stare, waiting expectantly. Tank's eyes darted from the forming portal, to Takeo, then back to the portal, feeling almost uncomfortable under the samurai's gaze. His eyes then flickered to him once more and he sighed. "What do you want from me, Tak?"

"An answer."

"To what?"

He was met with silence and he sighed again, rolling his eyes out of annoyance and slight aggression. "I already said it wasn't me! I didn't know the gun wasn't loaded!"

Takeo crossed his arms, clearly disbelieving of his response. "All evidence leads to you in this instance, Dempsey. You had immediate distrust in this stranger, threatened her at gunpoint, went as low as insulting her only because of your dislike of her. And the weapon you gave to her, was empty, which had nearly resulted in her death."

"Yeah, I know it looks bad. But I ain't that much of an asshole to give someone an empty gun, especially in a warzone." Tank straightened his posture, his expression serious and almost somber. "I didn't _intentionally_ give her an empty gun. I was an idiot to not check beforehand, but I sure as hell wasn't the one who emptied it."

The tunnel was filled with a deep purple light as the portal was completed, opening the gateway to the ethereal cavern. The Crazy Place, as the German called it. But neither of them moved to enter it. Takeo stared deeply, intently, into the sea blue eyes of the marine, searching for deception. He was a man who could determine if one was lying fairly easily. It was always given away through their eyes.

He willed himself to relax upon seeing no deception, although still feeling skeptical, feeling that Tank was indeed telling the truth. "Very well. Mistakes do indeed happen, but we must ensure that they do not happen again in the future."

He stepped through the portal, leaving Tank alone for a few moments as he retrieved the crystal. The American leaned heavily against the desk holding the record player, retrieving a cigarette from one of his pockets and then lighting it with a match. He took in a deep breath of the tobacco, cringing slightly at the flavour. Not the best brand, but he couldn't really be picky. He was lucky he even found that pack of cigarettes in the first place!

Despite knowing that it really wasn't him who emptied the pistol, Tank couldn't help but feel guilty that he didn't check the gun in the first place. She wouldn't have died if the robot crushed her, but knowing Nikolai, he wouldn't have put in the effort to save her before she actually did. Since she was just some stranger, he didn't know if she was part of this weird game the doc mentioned. Some little girl using them to get into some place called Agartha. Whatever it was, he just wasn't sure if she could be 'revived' in the way the rest of them could, or if she died like a normal person would when in situations such as the one she nearly ended up in.

If she really did die, then it would've been on him. He would have been responsible. Blood on his own hands. Not from the death of an enemy soldier, not from a mercy killing of a fellow brother in arms, from an... innocent woman.

There's no way she could be a spy. It isn't possible. Like Tak had said, she would have brought a better weapon to protect herself, she doesn't even seem capable of killing anyone or anything. Hurting them? He sniffed and chuckled to himself, his hand resting on the pocket that had the handkerchief he used to wipe the blood from his nose. Well, she could hurt people if determined enough.

The man was shaken from his thoughts as Takeo came back through the portal, purple crystal in hand. He wordlessly walked past the marine, who removed the record, destroying the portal in an instant.

The guy was silent as hell, but Tank was able to at least live with it.

/ / /

"Ah, we wait until she has passed!"

Edward held Vivian back from the footprint, and she sighed almost in annoyance. Before she could protest, he was quick to explain to her, "It may not seem like much of a trek, but do trust me when I say this, it takes a lot longer than you think to cross the footprint. I would rather you not get smothered."

Freya stepped down, almost intentionally hard, making Vivian jump in response to the sudden loud sound. She looked up at the robot, in awe of its' sheer size. The instant her foot moved, Edward gently ushered the Canadian to move forward, along the wooden path made across the footprint.

"Now, we should activate the generator first," He started explaining to her. "And then we can open the portal in the ice tunnel."

Vivian felt her stomach churn and the doctor immediately noticed her face turn pale. "It shall only last a few moments," he tried reassuring her. "Then it will be over."

"I'm not a soldier..." she muttered, a hint of fear in her tone.

"I know. But some of us never have much of a choice. You need to either fight, or die, _fräulein_."

Vivian swallowed and nodded, but said nothing lest she further show her growing fear. She didnt want to shoot a gun, or kill anything. Even in a situation like Edward had described, she just didn't have the heart to hurt anything or anyone. Even in rage-induced moments. The moment she hit Dempsey with the empty gun was justified, of course, but she still felt guilt for hurting him.

Even if it's something like a zombie, she just wouldn't be able to bring herself to kill them. Her good nature mixed with her fear.

Edward cleared his throat, grabbing her attention. "I'm going to activate the generator now."

She nodded then, knowing there was no way to avoid what was coming. She had to face her fears, she had to be rid of her anxiety, even if only for a few moments.

He pressed a button on the panel and Maxis' voice was heard, confirming the start of the conversion process. And zombies, ancient ones, began to appear from the ground.

"Eyes open, Vivian, they can come from anywhere!"

She looked around in a blind panic, her Mauser being held tightly in her hand. Most seemed to be going for Edward, and since she never really shot a gun before she didn't trust herself to not shoot him on accident if she shot at the ones near him.

Between all the noise from the Generator and from Edward shooting the zombies, as well as just the zombies screaming, she hadn't heard the sound of feet behind her. She was grabbed by the shoulder and on instinct, she quickly whipped around, her knife ready, and she was met with the gnashing teeth of a zombie.

She let out a short scream as she was knocked down to the ground, the grip around her gun and knife slackening as she fell. Her body and mind went into overdrive, pumping adrenaline through her, granting her the strength to hold the zombie at bay so it wouldn't simply sink its teeth into her chest or neck. She couldn't focus, couldn't think to call for help, her brain was only telling her to fight, to survive, to _kill_.

Snapping out of her adrenaline induced panic, she looked around to see the Mauser she dropped just a short distance away. Struggling to keep the zombie at bay with her one arm, she reached out to the gun, her fingers grazing the hilt which caused her to growl in frustration. Thinking fast once more, she delivered a swift knee to the zombies' gut, moving it away briefly, but long enough for her to push herself towards the gun.

Just as the undead creature crawled back over her body, ready to sink its rotting, disease ridden teeth into her soft flesh, Vivian whipped around with a snarl, pressing the barrel of the gun to the creature's head.

A shot was fired.

The struggle was over.

Her breathing was heavy and laboured, almost as if she had run a marathon. She looked at the corpse that lied on her, blood oozing from the wound in its' skull, as if waiting for it to reanimate once more. She shot it. She actually killed the god forsaken thing...

The machine released pressure as the conversion sequence completed, causing her to jump and snap back to reality. With a gasp, she quickly pushed the zombie off of her, crawling away from it. Edward approached her, concern on his features. "Did it bite you?!" He demanded.

He was ashamed to admit he had not been paying attention and had only realized she was being attacked after she shot it. She was covered in blood and dirt, leaving him unable to see any bite marks if it did happen to get her.

She didn't respond, and merely shook her head, which he took as an answer. He knelt down beside her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "It may not be reassuring to you, but this... this shows you are able to protect yourself when the time calls for it. That is what's important in these times, Vivian."

She nodded then, her voice not seeming to wish to work in that moment. She thought she'd feel guilt of some kind, or feel empowered, but she just felt... nothing.

Sensing that she was, in a sense, fragile in this moment, Edward gently helped her onto her feet, and then ushered her into the ice tunnel. Thankfully, not much needed to be done in the Crazy Place, and she would have some time to process what had just happened.

/ / /

Nikolai had just barely dodged a grenade as he dug up yet another pile of bones, growling in frustration. He had dug up three already and he still hadn't found any pieces to the ice staff!

That woman... she was something else. She just simply infuriated him, barking orders and snapping at Dempsey the way that she had. A stranger to them, almost an enemy, and yet she had the gall to...

He sighed heavily and picked himself up from the ground, brushing off as much dirt and grime as possible. She was frightened, and as far as they know, she had been alone. In a warzone, at that.

Perhaps he _was _being to harsh on her. He just wasn't used to anyone else aside from the other three men, and considering the undead hordes that were around them, he had always felt in unlikely that they would encounter any other living beings.

He supposed he was wrong about that.

There was no way he was going to apologize to her. He didn't feel that he needed to. But he would at least try to be a bit more civil towards her.

He reached another bone pile near Generator 2 and he gave a small smile when he recognized the glint of a staff piece, picking it up immediately. He looked around then, making sure no hellpigs were walking or running up to him. He was surprised and suspicious that none were coming. Perhaps the hordes were dying out for the day?

Nikolai just chuckled. Yeah, right.

Seeing that there were no other bone piles, he headed off into No Man's Land, wondering if anyone else had completed their tasks. He knew the German and that woman had gone off to finish the final Generator. He then wonders if the German had to babysit the woman, considering how fearful she was of the hellpigs as well as using a gun. Or perhaps she died.

Whatever her fate may be, he'd find out eventually. It's not like he hoped she'd die, but if she was going to be nothing but a drain on their resources, and a danger to them, then it would be best if she was gone. But for now, he supposed she would just have to prove her worth, earn her keep in a sense.

He reached No Man's Land to find Takeo and Dempsey holding off a small horde of zombies, but no German. And no signs of the woman either. So, at least he knows she didn't slaughter the German, as much as he would revel in the news.

He fired his gun at the remaining zombies, aiding his comrades, and he then approached them. "Where are other two?"

"At the church," Tank responded. "Think they're getting the ice crystal."

"I see them at the church." Takeo suddenly said. "She... doesn't look well."

"Who?" Tank asked. "The girl?"

He didn't reply and once again, frustrated the Marine. He was starting to not really like the vague responses.

He then looked around the mound to see them walking towards them, under the scaffolding, and only then did he realize what Takeo had meant.

"Jesus Christ..."

The lady looked like she had just gotten out of a goddamn massacre! Her face was splattered with dark red blood, some of it had dripped down her face as well. Her clothes were caked in blood, and he could only guess how so much of it had gotten on her. She had an almost dead look in her eyes, like she had done something she regretted. At least her breathing was normal. At least there was that.

She couldn't meet any of their eyes. She just couldn't. For whatever reason, she just felt nothing but shame. And she still felt that fear.

Edward patted her shoulder and she jumped slightly. "She was very brave." He informed the others. "However, do not stress her. The hordes have died down for now, so we best rest up while we can, and perhaps get to know our new accomplice."

They all nodded and headed back towards the 'safe room', and Edward ushered Vivian along once more. "I'm not brave..." She said quietly, suddenly needing to hold back tears.

"You were brave." He countered. "Braver than I had expected. If you weren't brave in those moments, you would have died, and you will need that bravery, so keep the memory of it with you."

She nodded wordlessly, just walking onward. This wasn't a game anymore, she kept thinking to herself. This was real. This was all real. In a way, it was a game, she thought. To Samantha it was a game. A sick, twisted game.

And she had just become one of the pawns.


	5. Calm Before Storms

**A\N: Slowly but surely I'm working my way out of my writer's block. It's been hard, but I'm trying. Anyways, a bit more of a chill chapter, but it'll get back into the action eventually.**

**Chapter Genre: Angst**

**Chapter Rating: T**

**Rating Content: IMPLIED RAPE, MENTIONS OF SELF HARM, Coarse Language, Brief Mentions of Violence**

* * *

They had all walked to a room that had a secure enough door, which made her feel slightly more safe in the event that a zombie attempted to break it down. She could easily smell the moisture and the slight smell of tobacco wafted through the air, hinting that one or more of the men smoked when in this room. There were empty cans littering the room, which bothered her to some degree. She wasn't one for cleanliness, if her apartment had been any indication, but she at least kept it as tidy as possible.

Takeo, Nikolai and Tank all started taking off their heavier gear, while Edward went to sit at a nearby table, opening a journal of some sort. Her eyes darted around, and when they landed on her bag, she realized that this room was the one she had woken up in. It seemed different when she was looking at it all when not in a blind panic.

Vivian went for her bag, careful as to not make it look like she was in a rush to grab it. She feared they might think she was wanting it for reasons other than to just have it near her.

They didn't pay her much mind.

She took her bag and carried it to a corner of the room, sitting herself down as comfortably as she could on a cold stone floor. She squeezed her bag, knowing her teddy was inside it. She had grown used to having her teddy bear in the presence of others, but her anxiety was keeping her from bringing it out. These were people she felt she'd be with for a while, and she just feared judgement or questions. If they asked about her, she would end up having to tell them about her mental health, and she felt that her mental health would make her, once again, just a liability to them.

"Don't you want to take your jacket off?"

Her head shot up. "Huh?"

Tank gestured at her. "Your jacket. You sure you want to be resting with that on?"

She realizes that he had taken off his own blood splattered jacket, leaving him in a grey shirt. She also saw his dog tags, which she briefly eyed at before looking down at her own jacket.

Indeed, it was soaked in blood. She felt her stomach churn at the sight and in an instant she had removed her gloves and was unzipping it, removing it as she stood. She was thankful that whatever had brought her here had the decency to give her a proper top. It was simple, a grey sweater shirt, but it kept her warm.

Tank approached the woman, and she froze in place, unsure what he was thinking of doing. He just took her jacket wordlessly, and placed it on a metal pole sticking from the cement wall. Probably to dry it out. He then sat down on a wooden stool, sighing as he started cleaning a pistol that was covered in mud.

She sat back down then, rooting through her bag. Indeed, her teddy was still in there and she breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She shouldn't feel scared, she was surrounded by four men who could protect her.

But for how long? How long until they get sick of her? How long until they find some other use for her, rather than an extra gun? And if they got bored of that, how long until they killed her?

Vivian brought her teddy out then, feeling an anxiety attack setting in. She tried calming herself, knowing that her parents' sexist teachings are just getting to her. Back in this time, most men were taught to respect women. Well, in America and Canada. She couldn't speak for Russia, Germany or Japan. Takeo wasn't just some soldier, he was a samurai, they had some code of honour. But she knew what the culture of Japan thought of women, both in present and past times. Did the warrior see her as weak, an object, did he see her as just another person?

She wasn't even sure about Nikolai and what he thought of her. She didn't know much at all about Russian culture, which gave her more reason to feel afraid of the large man.

Her eyes suddenly fell on Edward, who seemed to be staring intently at her. Their eyes met, and she froze. He didn't look away when she noticed his staring, and instead he let out a small "Hm." before turning back to his book and writing something down. She was curious, if not a bit worried, but his stare hadn't be salacious or sinister in nature, at least she didn't feel that it was.

They all continued to sit in silence then. An almost deafening silence to her, really. She didn't know if she should even speak, or if they'd hold a conversation with her.

A few more moments passed before someone let out a sigh. "Is nobody gonna ask about the elephant in the room?"

Everyone gave Tank a blank stare, and he gestured to Vivian. "Is nobody else curious about her hair?"

Edward _tsked_. "Really, Dempsey, that is rude."

"My hair?" Vivian asked, somewhat confused.

"Why is it blue?" The American asked.

She paused for a few moments and then it finally hit her. The hairstyle she had would be considered odd by these men during this timeline. Buzzed along the sides, and the rest was dyed blue. Suddenly she burst into a small fit of laughter, the hilarity of the situation hitting her like a two-by-four to the face. Between her laughter, she said, "I... completely forgot it was dyed!"

"Well, now that we are on the subject, yes, it is a bit... oddly coloured." Edward stated. "I know some men and women would use more natural colours possibly to cover greying hair, but never... _that_."

Vivian crossed her legs, a more comfortable position for her, as she settled herself down. "Well, dying hair is popular in the time I'm from, for both men and women."

"And which time _are_ you from then, _fräulein_?"

Her smile had immediately disappeared and as all eyes fell on her, she realized the slip up in her words. She squeezed her stuffed toy, the anxiety coming back almost as quickly as it left her. These men have heard weirder things, she thought. They haven't shot you yet, so the chances of them shooting you now over something as stupid as this.

The Canadian let out a sigh and shrugged. "I'm from... the 21st Century."

They all stopped what they were doing then. They all just _froze_. Their expressions ranged from shock, to disbelief, to confusion, and Edward just seemed plain unamused or unsurprised. She couldn't tell which one it was. She cleared her throat, shifting slightly in her seat. "I was, uh... born in 1993, and come from the year of 2018."

Tank scoffed in disbelief. "You're telling us that you come from an entire century from now? _Now_ I've heard everything."

"We have seen, and heard, far stranger things." Takeo chided the American gently.

"And time travel is not out of the ordinary here, Dempsey." Edward added. "Unbeknownst to you, this form of technology has already been created."

"She did not get here with your machines, German." Nikolai growled, his contempt for the man apparent in his voice. "She got here through means unknown. Unless she lies."

That statement alone caused her stomach to twist in knots and she shifted back slightly, as much as she could when there was a stone wall behind her.

"And why would she do that?" The German inquired. "Clearly she is outnumbered, clearly some of us wish her gone or dead, why would she lie to us when her very life could be on the line? She has proven herself to be smart, she knows the risks."

Takeo sighed. "I side with Rictofen on this matter. The spirits feel at ease around this woman. She wishes no ill will upon us, and she has not lied to us. Not even once. Has she not had several chances to harm one of us? Has she not shown herself capable to harm someone, if she so desired? She has not taken advantage of any of those things."

"I beg to differ..." Tank grumbled, rubbing at his nose slightly.

Vivian huffed and brought her knees to her chest. "Not like you didn't have it coming..." She muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" The marine growled, clearly not appreciative of her tone.

She didn't reply to him.

Nikolai, beginning to grow tired of her attitude and her mere presence, finally spoke up. "Even if all those things are true, she is still liability to group."

"I handled myself fine." She muttered, not appreciative of his ignorance. "I just need practice..."

"Guys, look, can we just _stop_?" Tank demanded, almost whined. "I've got guns to clean, so do you, and we just all need to pull our shit together or else we'll be at each other's throats."

The room went silent then and he breathed a sigh of relief, getting back to cleaning the muddy pistol as everyone else resumed their own activities.

As Vivian looked through her bag, she heard Edward ask, "Did you drop yours again, Dempsey? Or is that the one she threw at you?"

"Funny. No, mine is still in the holster, and the one she threw at me is on your desk. I found this one out in the mud on the way here. Someone else dropped it."

Vivian suddenly froze, relaying events in her head. They passed by Generator 2 on the way here. That was the only other spot she could think of where a gun was left in the mud. She looked around at the four men, trying to piece things together.

Tank still had his Mauser and the one she threw at him was on the desk Edward was sitting at. She still had the one that Edward handed to her. Takeo was currently cleaning his own pistol. She looked over to Nikolai, who was cleaning the shotgun he had been using.

She checked his belt, his holster, the ground, the ledge on the wall. He didn't have one.

"Do you all... keep your pistols?" She asked hesitantly. "Like, no matter what?"

Edward gave her a curious stare. "As a last resort, if that is what you mean, once we gain better guns."

She paused a moment before looking over to Nikolai. She eyed him up and down. "Where's yours?"

"Hm?"

"Where's yours?" She asked again. "I never saw you use it. But I remember you did have one. But now you don't."

The Russian didn't reply to her, which made her as anxious as it did angry. He was hiding something. Either that, or she was just extremely paranoid. It was likely just her being paranoid.

Several moments passed. Several, aching moments. Before the silence was broken once more. "Hey, this is the extra gun I gave you."

"What?"

Tank carefully checked the magazine, making sure no dried or wet mud got into it before closing it. "It's a full gun, and we marked the extra Mauser we had. With the cloth." He pointed to the little red band wrapped around the hilt of the gun. "Didn't see it until just now. I guess you dropped yours."

"Do not be dense, American." Edward tutted him. "She threw one at you, the one that was empty."

"But I _did_ drop mine." Vivian explained. "I fell down on the way to the Generator, and dropped my gun in the mud."

"Well, it was clean when you threw it at me."

There was a pensive silence, once again, but it was thick with tension. Not between Edward, Tank and Vivian. But the tension was coming from one single soul within the room. The Samurai put the pieces of the story together.

Takeo cleared his throat as he stood, setting his own pistol to the side. "Nikolai." He said clearly, grabbing the Russian's attention. "Where _is_ your gun?"

Although he was much larger than Takeo, never once had Nikolai feared another man as much as he was fearing the warrior now. His stoic expression faltered and he swallowed, his mouth suddenly feeling dry.

All eyes were now on _him_ for a change.

Vivian looked at Nikolai. This was the first time she had seen him as something other than an angry Russian soldier. He was afraid. And, most of the time, when someone was under scrutiny and was afraid, they were hiding something. Anxious? No. Afraid?

She spoke up, and stood up, leaving her teddy on the bag. "You... gave me the gun I dropped?"

A question, not a statement. She didn't like coming to conclusions too often, and she didn't want to accuse this giant man of attempting to murder her, however indirectly it may have been. And yet, with all the pieces coming together, with all the evidence put together, it was undeniable what had happened.

"You gave me _yours_." She stated, her brows furrowing slightly. "And... it was empty."

The Russian's face visibly paled. The truth was out. The real question was, what was she going to do with it. What were the rest of them going to do with it?

She felt her anger rising, Takeo felt it too through the spirits. Edward and Tank could see it happening, with the way her breathing shifted and how she clenched her fists, how her body went rigid. Tank stood and took a step back, not wanting to somehow get in the crossfire of her rage if she attacked Nik.

Vivian felt tears stinging at her eyes. She wanted to yell, she wanted to _scream_, she wanted to break something, to hit someone, she wanted to fucking _kill him_.

She turned on her heel suddenly, kneeling down where she had originally been sitting, and placed her teddy in the bag before closing it. She stormed out of the room, making sure to step on Nikolai's toes with the heel of her boot as she did. She slammed the door behind her, and swung the strings of the knapsack over her shoulders.

It was getting dark, she didn't know where she was going to go. But she needed to get away from them before she ended up doing something she'd regret.

/ / /

They all watched the woman storm out of the room, and they could practically feel her rage as she passed by them. Then their eyes fell on Nikolai, who had set the shotgun down against the wall, his hands now behind his back, like how a solider would stand when in front of their superiors.

It was quiet. It always seemed to be quiet. None of them really knew what to say, not even Takeo. They all knew Nikolai was an angry sort of man, distrusting and prejudiced. But they never expected him to stoop so low as murdering an innocent woman.

Tank sighed heavily, running his hand through his hair. "Jesus Christ, Nik..." He breathed out. "What the _fuck_ were you thinking?!"

Nikolai swallowed audibly. "You all know how dangerous she can be. We do not know her, she could-"

"Excuses." Takeo interrupted him. It was just one word but it was enough to shake the Russian to his core. "Pathetic excuses."

Edward shifted uncomfortably, not wishing to say anything. He knew his words would be meaningless in this situation. The Russian did not fear him, nor did he care for him in any shape or form. So he did his best to focus his energy into concern rather than negative emotions such as rage or disappointment, which would not aid him in the slightest.

"I am going to go search for her." He said quietly, standing from his seat at the desk. "She shouldn't be alone out there."

"You do that, Richtofen." The Marine growled, his gaze not leaving Nikolai.

Taking a gun with him, Edward left the three other men to their devices. He knew that they would get their word in, and he knew that Nikolai would take them seriously. They wouldn't decide to toss him out into the trenches to fend for himself, and he knew they wouldn't kill him, but he had a feeling that threats would be made.

Now, to find Vivian...

/ / /

Although she could have very easily wandered off into the uncontrolled warzone, he knew she wouldn't have gone far. Even in rage she knew better than to put herself in such danger. She would stay within the dig site.

Upon reaching No Man's Land, she was not that much harder to find. She was not within the mound or in any of the tunnels, or by any of the nearby generators. Upon approaching the church, he could hear her voice rather clearly. She almost sounded to be in distress.

Readying his Mauser, he picked up his pace, hoping and praying she was not in any sort of danger. He wouldn't know what to do with himself if a stray zombie had taken her by surprise and...

No, she was smart. She would be fine. And yet, despite his mental reassurances, he still felt fear cling at his heart.

He did not find her on the lower floor, and her grunts and cries had lead him up the stairway. He was cautious, however, as the state of mind she was in right now made her very unpredictable.

He saw her standing in the middle of the destroyed church, a pile of rubble beside her feet. He flinched slightly as Vivian grabbed a decent sized stone, one she could barely wrap her fingers around, and threw it at the wall in front of her with an enraged roar. The stone shattered on impact, be it from the poor integrity or her strength, either way, he did not wish to get in the way.

He stayed on the stairway, out of her sight. He watched as time and time again, she kept picking up stones and throwing them against the wall, and he started growing concerned when he noticed blood on her hand. Was her anger so blinding that she didn't even feel the jagged edges of the stones ripping at her flesh?

His concern worsened when she ran out of stones to throw, and grabbed a piece of a wooden rafter, holding it like a club, before moving to the nearest pillar and smashing it against it. The wood snapped and splintered, and he was most certain that the shock from the impact had to have harmed her in some way.

That seemed to do the trick, however, as she leaned heavily against the pillar, her breath heavy and laboured, and the remaining piece of wood fell from her hand. She leaned her back against it, sliding down until she was seated. Vivian rooted through her bag and pulled out the stuffed bear she carried with her, holding it tight against her, bringing her knees up against her chest.

Edward couldn't stop the pang of guilt in his chest as she cried.

This poor woman had been ripped from her own home, her own time, her own _dimension_, and placed in this hell. She was surrounded by four strange men, she had to kill to survive, something he knows she never had to do before. She had nearly died twice, three times if he included Nikolai's attempted murder. And he did.

That murder attempt had pushed her over an edge. It broke her. Made her unstable.

Despite his desire to comfort her, he waited still. Waited until her sobs had slowed and her breathing was less erratic. Only then did he climb the remaining steps. He cleared his throat before approaching her, and she was quick to wipe her tears.

"Go away." She choked out.

He hesitated a moment before speaking. "I do not wish to leave you out here alone, Vivian."

The utterance of her name seemed to calm her further and she let out a deep breath, looking up at the German. "I'm not going back there either."

"No." He said, carefully placing himself beside her. "No, you are not."

Not until she calmed down more, he thought to himself.

He sat in silence with her, providing her comfort with simple presence. He was uncertain how she felt about him, but she seemed to be at ease. After waiting a few more moments, he cleared his throat. "I would like to inspect your hand."

"What?"

"Your hand. It's bleeding."

Vivian looked at him, then looked at her right hand, which was littered with cuts and scrapes, and she noticed there were splinters. "Oh..."

He gently took her much smaller hand in his own, turning it so her palm was exposed. Some cuts were deeper than others, but they were not serious injuries. He took some medical supplies from the packs on his belts. A small bottle of disinfectant, gauze, tweezers and bandages.

"You always carry shit like that?"

"I'm a Doctor." He replied simply. Taking a canteen of water that he had strapped to his belt, he cleaned off her hand first, clearing the dust and dirt. He then carefully inspected her hand, taking the tweezers and pulling out any splinters he found. He then took a couple patches of gauze and soaked them in disinfectant. "This will sting."

"I know." She said. She didn't want to appear weak, and yet when he applied the gauze to her hand, she had barely resisted the urge to scream, instead biting her tongue as her other hand gripped the teddy bear on her lap. How fucking strong was that stuff?!

He held his hand tight over hers to keep the pressure on the gauze, as well as to 'wring' the disinfectant from it so it would properly clean the cuts. Taking the bandages, he wrapped the clean cloth around her hand, keeping the gauze in place. He tied off the bandage tightly, and placed the remaining supplies back in the packs they had been in. "Why did you not wear your gloves?" He asked, although he already had a feeling why.

She hugged her teddy tighter, anxiety gripping her once more. "I'm sorry..."

"Do you often do this to yourself? Whenever you are angry?"

The Canadian hesitated. She knew what he was doing. He was a doctor. The physical well being of the people he is with matters just as much as mental well being. That didn't mean he really deserved or needed to know, though.

So she kept silent.

"I already know what afflicts you, Vivian-"

"Bullshit." She hissed. "Nobody is able to know without a fucking diagnosis."

"What do you believe I have been doing?"

She looked at him then, her eyes red and somewhat puffy from the tears. "What."

Edward sighed slightly, giving her a quick explanation first. "I do this with everyone I spend more than a day with. But knowing your circumstances, I had... studied you, in a sense, when you had first arrived. I know your mental health includes, but I feel is not limited to, anxiety and depression. You do have severe signs of a personality disorder as well."

She paused then, suddenly feeling almost violated. "How do you fucking know?"

"Simple observation."

"You don't observe depression."

"You can. It can often be associated with self harm."

Her head shot up at that and he gestured to her left arm. "Your sleeve is slightly rolled up. I can see the scars on your wrist..."

The Canadian sighed in defeat and she slumped against the pillar. "I just don't like being so angry..." She said with a sniffle. "I didn't do anything to you guys. I'm just... _here_. And that fucking Russian asshole tries _killing me_."

He placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "These are trying times and we are all on edge. However, his actions were inexcusable, and we are not all like Nikolai. He's an idiot."

She laughed a little at that. "Fucking right he is..."

He chuckled along with her, albeit dryly, but again he was doing his best to comfort her. "So, if I may ask, why do you carry a stuffed bear with you?" He asked, hoping that conversation would lighten her mood a bit so she could at least get out of her mood.

"Blue?" She shrugged and looked down at the bear, playing with his ears slightly. "He's an emotional support stuffy, I call him. I had him since I was sixteen. He was there for me in... bad times. Times when I needed a hug but couldn't get one. That sort of thing."

He had figured as much. But something stuck with him that she had said. "Are you colourblind, by chance?"

"No... why?"

"And you named a stuffed, purple teddy bear, 'Blue'?"

She smiled then. "That's the point. Blue the Purple Panda."

"Blue like your hair."

She laughed, which got him to smile along with her. "Nobody is gonna get over my hair, are they?"

"It is oddly coloured."

"In my timeline, it's normal to see men and women my age, or younger, with coloured hair."

He chuckled at that, only able to imagine what her universe was like. In his travels across dimensions, he didn't really stumble across any 'future' ones. None so far into it, anyways. But he had definitely seen stranger.

He stood from his seated position, damning his joints as they popped and cracked. "We best be heading back, Vivian. It is getting dark, and you are not wearing your jacket."

She froze but then sighed, realizing he was right. With a sigh, she slung her bag over her shoulder and stood, keeping her teddy in her arms however. Not wanting things to be too quiet, she said to him as they walked down the stairs, "You missed something in your 'observations'."

"And what would that be?"

"I also have ADHD."

He held up a finger as if to make a point. "Ah, I was wondering where all your energy came from! And it explained how you were able to build the shield so well!"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I like building things anyways."

They exchanged small talk as they walked back across No Man's Land, almost ignorant to the planes still fighting overhead. As night started to fall, however, things started to become quiet.

Always a calm, before a storm.


End file.
